Two Worlds, One Family
by alex-of-macedonia
Summary: Seneca Crane and his family escape from Panem and end up on an island.


**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters in the slightest.**

**A/N: So I wrote this in September '12, and then forgot about it until this morning. So here you go. Just imagine Tarzan's dad from the Disney movie with his epic facial hair, and you'll see where I got the inspiration for this.**

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Seneca walked slowly toward the bowl of nightlock berries on the table.

It couldn't end like this, no! Snow was surely just trying to scare him, make him make a better Games next year. Yes, of course. He would just have to apologize, maybe grovel a little longer than necessary, but he could get back on Snow's good side.

Recognizing the futility in his fantasy, he glanced back at the large, wooden doors, knowing they were still locked from the outside. The only way he was going to leave this room, would be dead.

With a sigh, Seneca gave in to his fate. Execution it was.

The berries were cool in his hand, already beginning to stain his palm a dark purple.

Goodbye, cruel wor—-

A creaking sound in the corner of the room made Seneca jump, dropping his handful of berries.

"Who's there?" he gasped out. Seneca's hands filled empty pockets in his frantic search for his usual knife or pistol. He'd forgotten that he'd had to surrender his weapons at the security desk.

A small, familiar voice answered him, "My love, come quick!"

Seneca could make out a pair of wide eyes - his wife - peeking out from a trapdoor in the far corner of the room. He raced over and slid to his knees as he neared; she helped quickly lower him into the crawlspace under the room, replacing the trapdoor exactly as she had found it.

The two adults had to run at a crouch, but Seneca felt he could handle a little back pain rather than death.

After traveling in the dark for what felt like hours, his wife opened a door, revealing they were now somewhere in the unguarded woods outside the Capitol. Walking outside, Seneca could now see a ship sitting upon a river. Baffled at how something like this could exist in Panem, Seneca turned to his wife with a thousand questions on his tongue —-

—-and completely forgot all of them as soon as he saw his beautiful wife for the first time in real lighting. He thought, back there in the dark, that she'd just been holding an armful of blankets or food for their journey, but now he could see why she'd risked everything to save him.  
Seneca dropped to his knees in front of his wife's swollen belly. His face lit up; he was truly happy for the first time in months. "A baby? This … this is incredible!"

"I found out just after you left for the Capitol, Sen. I hated to keep this from you, but while you were planning those Games, I didn't want you to start picturing our own child in their faces. I knew you would need to keep you job for just long enough, at least to try and retire for the next Games. As soon as I heard the order for your death though, I knew I had to move quickly to get you, before…" Seneca stood and brushed her tears away, whispering to her words of caring, gratefulness, and love, kissing her to punctuate each word.

A few minutes later, the blissful couple walked to the ship and climbed up the ladder on the side. Hasty introductions were made between the Cranes and the ship's crew and other passengers, and they were on their way. Destination: unknown. All they'd agreed on was that they all wanted as far away from Panem as possible.

Months passed, and they had only found water, water, the occasional miniscule island where they'd stop to gather any supplies they could, and more water. Even with rations, people were beginning to starve. Everyone, however, would slip bits of their own rations to Seneca's wife, since she needed it more. She tried refusing at first, but when the others continued to refuse to take anything back, she relented and accepted their offers. Before too long, a baby's cry could be heard at night from below decks.

Another week passed, and the crew was getting smaller and smaller. Even the other passengers had started dying from starvation or illness, or going mad and jumping off the side of the ship. There weren't enough people on board when a storm hit, sending them miles away, and eventually shipwrecking them on unknown land. Clinging to pieces of driftwood, trying to kick-swim his family toward shore, Seneca could hear the cries of some of the others in the ocean. He couldn't worry about them, though. He had to get his family to land.  
No one else made it to shore, and eventually the only sounds they could hear were the waves on the beach, and the birds in the forest behind them.

Thanks to having had to watch the Tributes use survival skills in the Games for years, Seneca knew how to put together a tree house using the wreckage of the ship washing ashore.

Soon, the Cranes adjusted to life in their happy little paradise. They had plenty of food, their baby was healthy, and they were far from the influences of the Capitol and Snow.

Then one night, as they were settling down for bed, a leopard snuck in to the treehouse as a gorilla looked on the scene from afar…


End file.
